Zorba's

We here at New World Pizza have been visiting a lot of standard pizza places, and so this week we decided to have some fun. When you visit Zorba's, located at 6014 N. May, it's usually for their hummus, gyros, and chicken bandari. But, because we like to mix things up every so often, we went for their pizzas.

We promise you this review will be entirely free of "all Greek to me" jokes.

The Greek Pizza
All of Zorba's pizzas come on a thin crust that is made with both wheat and white flour, which ends up being the best of both worlds. It has the taste of a wheat crust with the light and flaky texture that only comes from white flour. It was a little flimsy, but, overall, still good. The Greek pizza this is topped with tomato sauce, gyros meat, pepperocinis, fresh tomatoes, calamata olives, red onions, a five cheese blend, and Feta cheese (technically, this would make it a six cheese blend, but as the Feta was in big crumbles, we won't argue the point). Our main point of contention with the pizza is that the tomato sauce was mainly on the pizza as a coloring agent. There was hardly enough on the pizza to get a read on how it tasted. The cheese blend was fantastic and they were more than generous with it, which made it a tad bit overwhelming. The pepperocinis, fresh tomatoes, and red onions were a nice touch, but their impact was negated by the overwhelming flavor of the calamata olives (which were good and much more enjoyable than the standard black olives). The amount of gyros meat on the pizza was slightly disappointing, but that has more to do with how much we like Zorba's gyros than anything else.

The Veggie Pizza
Topped with a basil pesto, grilled eggplant, artichoke hearts, fresh tomatoes, and red onions, the veggie pizza was a nicely balanced pizza. The pesto was flavorful without being too heavy and oily. Too often pesto pizzas end up like the Deepwater Horizon pipeline, but not this one (and they didn't even need to use a box!). Once again, they went a bit heavy with the 5.5 cheese blend, but we really can't complain about that. The grilled eggplant was cooked perfectly, without being slimy or bitter. We here at New World Pizza have a torrid past with eggplants, and this pizza did wonders in patching up that relationship. We're still not B.F.F.'s, but at least we're talking again. The fresh tomatoes and red onions stood out more on this pizza, and their freshness really shone through. The artichoke hearts were a negligible addition, but were appreciated, nevertheless.

The Tuscany Pizza
Like most culinary gambles, this pizza presented the most risk, but ended up the big winner of the night. Instead of going with a red or pesto sauce, this pizza was topped with a creamy leek sauce. It was like an Alfredo sauce without being nearly as heavy, but with leeks providing a nice counterbalance. Combined with the flavorful white/wheat crust, this was a perfect foundation for a pizza. On top of the cheese, there was bacon. And that was it. Simple, good, and bacony. The three keys to keeping us happy.

At $8 for a personal pizza, Zorba's pizzas are the perfect opportunity to give your non-culinary adventurous friends a chance to taste the high points of Mediterranean cuisine. Or your friend burnt out on pizza a chance to renew their love with one of the great super-foods. Anyway you look at it, these pizzas are a great gateway food. And while you're there, it wouldn't hurt to try the churros.